The present invention relates to an inflatable support for lower legs and more particularly pertains to protecting a person's knees, shins, and feet while kneeling on a hard surface.
In many professions, it is necessary for workers to kneel on hard surfaces for extended periods of time. Because of the positioning of the knee and shin on the hard surface when kneeling, an individual must endure discomfort and possibly injury when kneeling for any prolonged length of time. Although some devices have been constructed to offer some degree of comfort, they are seemingly inadequate in providing maximum comfort to the wearer through effective distribution of the pressure applied to the knee and leg when kneeling on hard surfaces. Therefore, it is necessary to provide a device that will provide support to the knees and shins of a person kneeling on a hard surface.
In addition, when kneeling the worker has a tendency to put a great deal of pressure on the toes. Also, the toes are flexed toward hyper-extension. Long term, such tension can be harmful. Accordingly, it is necessary to provide a device which supports the foot and prevents the worker's weight from being supported upon the toes in the manner previously described.
Further, at construction sites in particular, the workers are often forced to kneel upon an extremely cold ground surface. In many cases the ground surface can be well below freezing. Even while wearing warm clothes, the cold ground can easily conduct significant heat away from the body. Coupled with the pressure upon the legs from the weight of the worker, blood circulation can be inhibited to dangerous levels.
The present invention attempts to solve the abovementioned problem by providing a device that is specifically designed for protecting the knees, shins, and feet of a person kneeling on a hard surface for an extended period of time. In addition, it can help reduce heat conduction from the body by providing an effective barrier between the ground and leg, and can even hold a quantity of heat in a thermal medium which is slowly released to the worker.
The use of protective devices is known in the prior art. More specifically, protective devices heretofore devised and utilized for the purpose of providing protection to the human body are known to consist basically of familiar, expected and obvious structural configurations, notwithstanding the myriad of designs encompassed by the crowded prior art which have been developed for the fulfillment of countless objectives and requirements.
By way of example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,491,840 to Yen discloses a buffer structure for shin protection and ankle sleeve mat for use while participating in sporting events. U.S. Pat. No. 5,524,292 to Hargens discloses a knee pad unit having a plurality of inflatable pneumatic tubes attached within a shell. U.S. Pat. No. 4,772,071 to Richards discloses knee pads utilizing a seat to support the buttocks of the user. U.S. Pat. No. 5,090,055 to McElroy discloses an air cushion kneeling pad comprised of a one-piece molded resilient polyurethane foam. U.S. Pat. No. 5,383,843 to Watson et al. discloses an air pressure knee brace apparatus comprised of a flexible material wrap. U.S. Pat. No. 5,385,538 to Mann discloses a knee brace having an inflatable bladder support comprised of a cloth body having a central knee hole wrapped around a patient's knee to treat knee flexion contractures. U.S. Pat. No. 5,407,421 to Goldsmith discloses a compressive brace including one or more inflatable bladders equipped with an automatic, regulated, and removable air pressure regulation valve, where different valves have different release settings.
While these devices fulfill their respective, particular objective and requirements, the aforementioned patents do not describe an inflatable support for lower legs for protecting a person's knees and shins while kneeling on a hard surface.
In this respect, the inflatable support for lower legs according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in doing so provides an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of protecting a person's knees and shins while kneeling on a hard surface.
Therefore, it can be appreciated that there exists a continuing need for a new and improved inflatable support for lower legs which can be used for protecting a person's knees, shins, and ankles while kneeling on a hard surface. In this regard, the present invention substantially fulfills this need.